Missions & Complexes

So I have created a new character that I will use untill EVE servers go down and this time I have chosen gallente. Yes I am not gallente, this is just a shameless forum alt.

I will spend my few gaming hours on boring carebearing and I was going to focus on drones since CCP was so kind that they released drone damage mods and all that.

But now I hear that drones get murdered by NPC's.

What's the real deal?

Is it worth to train drone pilot?

Drone boats have taken a massive nerf in terms of PVE and to some extent have actually been made obsolete, certainly for DED PLEXS in null and low.

Using a drone boat is now unfortunately completely impossible for a large selection of PVE due to NPC drone insta murder. If you are using a drone boat the majority of your DPS will be in drones which causes the NPC's to target your drones, with 25+ ships on one drone they simply insta pop.

''Some will scream but I use my drone boat against sleepers in WH's so deal with it.'' This is a fair point but is countered by the fact that sleeper sights were designed with the harder AI in mind and balanced as such. Normal Sec DED's and missions were not and that is where the problem resides around drone boat insta murder. Some missions by chance are doable in a drone boat some however are impossible.

Normal turret ships deploying drones will not really see this kind of aggression against their drones so using the odd drone to kill small frigates is not a problem if the majority of your firepower comes from turret form as the AI see's your ship as the threat not your drones.

Ships such as the Gila, Vexor, Myrmidon, Ishtar and Dominix (navy) are now no longer suitable for PVE. Expect the Domi, Ishtar and Gila to crash in price as PVE runners no longer fly these ships. The others will not crash due to their use in PVP which drones still can perform.

The drones themselves will crash in price too, yes I said crash not rise due to PVE runners no longer using drone boats. More drones are being destroyed but this is the short story. Long term drone boats are now obsolete and players will simply no longer fly them for PVE purposes.

Carriers will also drop in price as they have also been hit hard with fighters being targeted although fighters do have a bit more tank which will allow carriers to rep them or get them back alive. Fighter, carriers and drones will all drop in value as less people use them for PVE. They have remained unaffected for PVP use.


I like the new AI changing it for drone boats is not the answer, the simple answer is to adapt by moving from Drone boats to turret boats. Another way to level the playing field would be to allow turrets on ships to be targeted and destroyed much like drones that way drone pilots would be level in both PVE and PVP. Drone DPS can be destroyed so should turrets.

Vexor, Myrm and Domi do half of their DPS with turrets, and have mid slots galore to harass NPCs with EWAR, generating enough threat to attract rat aggro. That is the method that keeps drones alive in wormholes, not site design. I can assure you that sleepers are perfectly capable of disposing of drones in a very swift manner if they see it appropriate.

Only Ishtar and Gila do more dps with drones than high slot weapons.

PVE use doesn't really affect the markets, since carebears never lose ships, as PVE is way too easy and risk-free. They can fly the same ship for years, whereas they get lost on a daily basis in PVP.

Furthermore, Ishtar an Gila are awesome solo and small gang ships.

To add a little reason to the thread, the biggest issues with using drones now will be for new players starting out. You won't have the drone skills to make them as effective as you will later on, so there will be a good chance to lose more drones. The good part is that they actually did make the drone bays larger with the rebalance on the frigs/cruisers knowing that more drones will be lost.

Once you get into a ship that can use sentries, your drone losses should be minimal. At that point, you're usually taking out frigs long before they're in range. Those that do come in close can be taken out be lights as usual, and since the combat is close, you have a better chance of getting the drones back before they die.

The AI also seems to run with the sleeper timer of a 2 min aggro window. Meaning if they target your drones, if you're able to recall them, you have 2 minutes before they'll make an attempt at switching again. You can therefore launch drones, let the frigs target them, then recall and relaunch to have 2 min of kill time. (Some missions they do switch faster, but those are the outliers, not the norm from my testing)

Overall, drone boats can still be used, they're just a lot more work than most alternatives.

Why do you see drones and hybrids as mutually exclusive options? I will continue to use both.

If you have 40mil equivalents to a lowsec exploration Ishtar, please post fits, otherwise that's just hyperbole.

Gate guns don't shoot drones anymore. Sentry drones on a bonused ship are by far the best weapon system for bashing a dickstar if you can't use a dread (most wormholes, all hisec). All in all Dominix has some of the highest dps figures at large POS range of all subcaps.

Well I personally wouldn't call over 700 continuous ammo-free dps "supplemental". Add large rails on top of that for the brief moments when you are not jammed, and you'll see why the vanilla Domi is the best subcap choice.

Anyway, waiting for those 40mil alternatives to Ishtar :)

Yeah, with HAMs the Drake can do almost half the dps of Ishtar, which will make dealing with, say, the Overseer of a Crimson Hand Supply Depot like a walk in a sunny park.

Have you tried a target painter, btw?

Drone AI is unchanged. NPC AI however...